Numerous challenges confront manufacturers of “smart” windows. For example, manufacturers must coat large window substrates with sophisticated coatings such as electrochromic device coatings. The coating process must be conducted with high throughput and high yield. Inevitably defects will crop up in some coatings. In some cases, a defect or group of defects affects only a small portion of the window substrate and, as a consequence, may be addressed by removing the affected portion of the window substrate and using the remainder of the substrate to form smaller windows. Unfortunately, this approach is generally incompatible with strengthening processes such as tempering. Also, there are many reasons why fabricating smart windows on non-tempered substrates may be desirable. However, switchable smart windows fabricated on such window substrates are more susceptible to breakage. For example, such windows are more susceptible to thermal gradients and may break under conditions where a tempered window substrate might not.